The present invention relates to a charged particle beam apparatus, particularly relates to technique for executing high-speed and high-precision inspection using multi-beams.
In a process for manufacturing a semiconductor device and a magnetic disk, there are used an electron beam metrology system that emits a charged particle beam (hereinafter called a primary beam) such as an electron beam and an ion beam on a specimen, acquires a signal of a generated secondary charged particle (hereinafter called a secondary beam) such as a secondary electron and measures a contour and dimensions of a pattern formed on the specimen and an electron beam inspection system that probes whether a defect exists or not.
In such a charged particle beam apparatus, the enhancement of speed at which a specimen is processed, that is, inspection speed is an important subject together with the enhancement of defect detection sensitivity. To achieve this subject, a multi-charged-particle-beam apparatus using plural beams is proposed. In such a multi-charged-particle-beam apparatus, the adjustment of beams is important and for example, in WO2002/037527, an electron beam adjustment method of matching a beam layout on a specimen and coordinate axes on a specimen surface by using a rotation lens or rotating a multi-aperture board around an optical axis in a multi-electron-beam inspection system is disclosed.
In the meantime, techniques using multi-beams have been utilized in a field of a mask-less lithography system. When multi-beams are used for a lithography system, a range exposed by each beam is determined and as a writing pattern is required to be precisely grasped, the precise adjustment of an exposure spot and a region scanned by the exposure spot is essential. For example, in JP-A No. 2005-277128, a method of measuring the variance from a defined position of an exposure spot beforehand and correcting each beam is disclosed.